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San Diego says no charges for police in death of bicyclist

By Jason Siegel

San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said three police officers shouldn't face criminal charged in the 2005 death of a man who resisted arrest when police stopped him for riding a bicycle without a light, KPBS reported. (LISTEN)

The 21 month investigation by the D.A.'s office found the officer exercised reasonable force when they tackled Darryl Johnson, 40, used a sleeper hold, a head lock and struck him in the back and thigh with elbows and knees as they tried to handcuff him. Johnson stopped breathing, fell into a coma and died a week later. The coroner said Johnson died from lack of oxygen to the brain and cardiac arrest "during prone law enforcement restraint" and deemed it a homicide. A report by the D.A.'s office attributed Johnson's death to his excited emotional state and that he was high on marijuana.

During the chase to arrest Johnson a nearby security guard pointed a gun at Johnson and told him to stop or he'd shoot. One of the officers involved mistakenly thought it was Johnson who had said "I'll shoot you," according to the report,  Officers later found Johnson had a bag with 1.11 grams of rock cocaine and $61 in cash. He'd been caught two years earlier with two bags of rock cocaine in his car, when he was stopped for speeding.

The time frame of the struggle to arrest Johnson ranges in the report from a two minute estimate by police to a 45 minute estimate by one of the eyewitnesses.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on April 23, 2008 (boomark / email).